Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-06-03

III naVo you SnOI IL you JUL u LILO
laughed and said he reckoned not, but
when 1 called in two soldiers and made
them load their guns and come to ready
and pulling oat my watch told them thai
if that man did not give in in five minutes
they had to shoot him, DR.. Wylie turned
pale and looked very serious. About
three minutes had passed in silence when
the DR.. said: General if take you to
the river what am [ to do, l can never
come back here You can go along with
me said 1 and when we are safe inside our
lines, will give you 900 in gold for your
services. The five mil ''tes had nearly ex-
PRED now, and thc were nervously
lingering their guns when the DIR. spoke
again. Said he, II have wife General
and can't leave her." told him would
fix that directly, and much relieved that
l would not have to shoot the man, order
ed an ambulance to drive at once to DR..
WIS house, put in a feather bed, pack
Mrs. Wylie in on it and hurry back to the
hotel.
Reporter.-But, General. you would not
have had the man shot if he had held
out ?
Gen. Ayes, sir; it was military
necessity. L had to weigh the lives
of two thousand men against that of
one man. would have done 1t. But L
was spared the painful necessity. The am
balance with Mrs. Wylie soon drove up,
the DR.. said he would go. and mounting,
rode off by my side with guard around
under orders to shoot him dead in his
saddle if he played US false. But all went
we'll; the Dr.. knew the mountain roads
perfectly and conducted US by an obscure
track down a little creek near Mrs. Scott's,
called Potts creek, think. We~rode all
night and in the morning reached the
river | so longed to see, and there the
bridge was, still standing, with small
guard only to defend it. We took it at
charge and I got all my command safely
across, except about eighty stragglers who
were too slow and were captured, lost in
the mountains, or drowned in attempting
to swim the swollen stream, and the next
day I reached my base. paid DR.. Wylie his
$500, and let him go.
Reporter.-Do you know what became
of DR.. Wyle afterwards
Gen. A.-WelI, the DR.. was bad man;
1 heard OF his being engaged in several
very suspicious affairs afterwards during
the war, first on one side and then on the
other, and finally, after the close of the
war he was arrested in KanaWha for the
murder of a man for money, aad the cir
cumstances were so strong against him
that | suppose he would have gone to
the gallows, but he escaped and l have
never heard of him since He would do
anything for money. The DR.. was bad
man, if he did do me good turn.
AvERILL's CHARACTER AS FOE.
[ have spoken of Gen. Averill as ''the
gentlemanly raider" and though The COM
mand to which l was attached encounter
ed his three times, his conduct of the pc
culiar mode of warfare he followed, al
ways bore out that idea,a [ never heard
OF any vandalism, cruelty, discourtesy to
women, or unsoldier-like conduct laid
at his door during all his campaigns.
tesy to the conquered and his candor and
good nature since the war, was told the
writer some time since by Col. A. r.
Barbee, of the 22d Va. Reg'J, Echols'
Brigade. My command, the 2e5h Va.
Battalion, Edgar's, was attached to the
same brigade, and one hot June day, in
1868, we met Ayerill near the White Sui
phur Springs, " ry Greek. The armies
were pretty eveh4s matched, about s 500
each. Averill was on one of his raids and
trying to get to Lewisburg and go down
to the Kanawha Valley, but we intercept
ed him here and after long, obstinate,
and bloody fight lasting q day and half,
beat him back and gave him handsome
thrashing, though in the beginning of the
fight he had captured Maj. McKendree,
our paymaster, with all of our money in
his saddle-bags. We heard of Averill say
ing as, mortified, he hurried back the way
he had come, that he meant to try that
thing over again soon. Nor had many
months passed before he made good his
threat. This time we met him at Droop
Mountain striking for Lswisburg again,
and after a short fierce struggle, some
thing went wrong On our side and we got
handsomely damned and took ourselves
away from the field in rather undlgnifed
haste.
We lost some gallant men killed. and
among our wounded was Col. Barbee, who
was reported killed, but he was not even
captured by the pursuing enemy, as night
fortunately came in TINA for US. A day or
two after, Col. Barbee got letter through
Averill's lines by flag of truce, to his wife
who was at Charleston W. Va.
SO, when these two,- the blue and the
gray, met few years after and were in
PRODUCED, Col. Barbee said to AverilI,
General, have always intended if ever
I met you to thank you for the great kind
ness you showed me after the battle of
Droop Mountain, when you received my
flag of truce and so courteously forward
ed that letter to Mrs. Barbee. BY your
courtesy my wife was relieved of grea
anxiety and placed under lasting oblga-
tion." "Oh. don't mention it," said Az
GRILL. sit was nothing. ] was glad to be
able to serve lady and wounded soldier;
but Colonel, say. didn't we give you fell
lows particular fits at Droop Mountain?"
"Yes.' said Bar bee ''you did and didn't
we give you fellows particular hi at Dry
Creek, General?"i
Yes, yes" said Averill, II give it up.
Come along Colonel it is my treat" and
then over their julep they fought the two
battles over again mid many a joke and
hearty laugh at each others expense.
T. C. NJ.